Reply to Nancy Van Doren just went off the deep end

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If they are trying to kill HB, they've stumbled upon a good way to do it. Implementing a sibling preference there means that far fewer families will have access to the program, significantly reducing HB's constituency.[/quote]

I just read on AEM that they'll just add extra seats to H-B for siblings.  Doesn't this mean that their program can - and will - get bigger?  So shouldn't they plan to build more seats at the new H-B campus?[/quote]

I saw that, too.  They aren't going to get bigger, though.  The HB folks will fight it and siblings will continue to get in at a rate that defies statistics.[/quote]

I saw the email that was copied in there, but it looked like what they were saying is that the Superintendent plans to exercise his discretion to have the programs grow in accordance with the number of siblings admitted by preference.  Which is all well and good, but if that is the intent then shouldn't it be part of the policy?  It just seems like if the principal or boosters of HB, for example, prevail upon the Superintendent one year that HB is as big as it possibly can get, and the Superintendent declines to exercise his discretion to require HB to absorb siblings and expand.  But under this officially adopted SB policy, the Superintendent/APS would still be required to grant the sibling preference.  Or what if there's a new superintendent who disagrees with this exercise of discretion?

I guess I'm just not comfortable with the idea that the preference is codified in an official, binding policy, but you're just supposed to trust that the staff will implement it so that the programs are forced to add seats for any sibling who may be admitted by preference.  It doesn't seem like there's going to be a whole lot of public visibility as to whether that discretion actually is exercised in the way proposed.

In some ways this does seem a little like hair-splitting, but I have 2 preschool aged kids; I already was somewhat uncomfortable with the idea that the SB seems only to want to create new high school seats in these special lottery programs.  I am increasingly struggling to see a path forward for us in APS if admission is contingent not only on the lottery, but also on some unspoken, unofficial exercise of discretion among the APS staff which may change from year to year, from program to program, without any public notice.  The more choice program seats they add, the more overcrowded the comprehensive high schools get, the more it seems important to have very clear, predictable policies governing the process.

But maybe I'm misunderstanding?  I hope?[/quote]

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